A look back at our difficult relationship with what may now be the biggest band in the world By Andy Langer

The Timeline

The Timeline

Kings of Leon has always been the perfect storm of a band, almost impossible to replicate now. They have an amazing backstory, a distinct look, radio-friendly songs, arena experience, and significant promotional muscle. The problem is, the Followills take themselves too seriously. They whine. They mope. Whenever we find ourselves rooting for them, they ruin it. Their new album might change our feelings about them once and for all, though. It's that good. But first, a little history.

Hope!

Hope!

Brothers Nathan and Caleb Followill grow up the sons of an itinerant Pentecostal preacher, moving across the south spreading the gospel, homeschooled. Nathan, Caleb, and brother Jared land in Nashville. RCA Records signs Nathan and Caleb. They draft 15-year-old Jared to play bass and their cousin Matthew to play guitar. The Kings of Leon is one of the last bands through the door that could benefit from an era in which major labels still spent serious promotional money with the intention of developing artists. Their debut, Youth & Young Manhood, released in 2003, hits stores in Europe two months before it does in America. Press in the UK is particularly hyperbolic and breathless. U. S. fans are less interested. In 2004, they play on a tiny tent stage for several hundred of the 90,000 festivalgoers at Bonnaroo in Tennessee. Within two years, they're touring with Pearl Jam, U2, and Dylan.